This blog is the internet's best source of information about Foley and Foley-Belsaw automatic hand saw filers, saw retoothers, saw setters, and other Foley and Belsaw sharpening equipment. It's also a resource for locating used saw filers, retoothers, and setters. There are free downloads of out-of-print owner's manuals, links to manuals for sale by Foley Belsaw, other obscure saw sharpeners, and vintage file catalogs from Disston, Heller, Nicholson, and Simonds.

October 18, 2010

More about how to transport a Foley filer

This is the result of my girlfriend and I going to an estate auction in a rural slice of Maryland on Saturday. The auction description said nothing about Foley or saw sharpening equipment, but it did have a photo of the signs. A friend who spends a lot of time on AuctionZip happened upon this auction, saw the sign photo as well as lots of grimy green equipment, and tipped me off to it a week ago.

We had to get up at 4:00 and leave shortly before 5:00 to get there by preview time. There were lots of tools to look at, but what I went for were the many boxes of taper saw files. These were in 9 bigger boxes, and in one I counted 17 boxes which hold 12 files each. After bidding on the first of the 9 boxes, I elected to take the other 8 at the same price. I could see it on eBay - "NOS Simonds taper saw files by the dozen, mix or match sizes!"

Getting the 600-800 files and 4 pieces of equipment into my car was pretty easy. However, when I started examining the files yesterday, I learned that most of them were double-cut and had been used to sharpen one or 2 saws each. So that was goodbye to the eBay dream.

But, this was a mystery - why would someone invest in so many double cut files files versus cheaper single cut, and use them so little? And why would he have hundreds of 6-inch files in addition to the 7-inch that his Model 61 uses? I will never know, because he had no children, but my guess is that they came from the machine shop in the factory where he worked, and they needed double cut files for the dies that stamped their product - lettering for signs.

About Me

My interest in antique tools began over 200 years ago with my Denmead ancestors of Ireland and Baltimore. My sites cover specialized topics that are not covered elsewhere on the internet. I also try to spread knowledge by scanning and posting tool catalogs.